Gathering a comprehensive list of network devices in order to manage them (i.e., collect inventory, configure, and fault data) is a challenging task. For instance, network administrators may need to either know all of the devices in a network or do a sweeping discovery to locate all of the devices. This sweeping discovery may put a strain on the network and may not locate all of the devices. Furthermore, the discovery process may need to be repeated for every new device connected to the network.
Additionally, credentials (e.g., SNMP community strings, CLI passwords) should be known for all devices found during discovery or added manually to a network management system. In many instances, not all of the devices in a network use the same credentials, forcing network administrators to track down their accurate values. Finally, there are device attributes (e.g., asset tracking and support information) that cannot be easily polled from devices, if at all.